The Tulsa Peace Fellowship's Counter-Recruitment Update/Digest, for May 2011

[Tony Nuspl]

Truth in Recruiting - "Don't Believe the Hype!"

Lead Stories from the past month's news:

Predator Drone Mistakenly Kills 2 U.S. Soldiers
--Two U.S. service members were killed in a drone airstrike that is believed to be the first instance of friendly-fire deaths from drone attacks.

related story:
Arrested: 37 people who protested at Hancock Air Base near Syracuse NY against the use of drones
file under: Nonviolent Resistance

other page 1 stories

Navy officer shot dead aboard nuclear submarine HMS Astute
--Police arrest a man on suspicion of murder after two people are shot aboard berthed nuclear submarine HMS Astute in Southampton's eastern docks.
--Submarines especially vulnerable to tensions between crew

featured radio interview:
Is the U.S. Using Depleted Uranium in Libya?
--Doug Weir on the likelihood and the danger of this internationally-banned weapon

featured editorial:
Hiroshima to Fukushima: The Illusion of Control

facts & figures:
At the height of the Cold War, American and Russian arsenals topped 68,000 nuclear weapons,

US soldiers are seven times as likely as UK troops to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

featured music video:
Metallica - "One" (Video)
--In addition to hard-hitting lyrics, excerpts from the film based on the anti-war novel by Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun (1939), telling the tale of a soldier whose body is severely damaged by a mortar shell, his arms, legs, eyes, mouth, nose and ears all gone

quotes:
Doctor:  "The cerebrum has suffered irreparable damage."
Priest: "He's the product of your profession, not mine"
Damaged Soldier: "Help me, mother, I'm having a nightmare and I can't wake up."
~excerpt from the film script, and the film clip used for the music video

Troops are political dynamite in budget battle
--Soldiers will not get their paychecks for the duration of the shutdown, leaving their families at home struggling to pay the bills.

facts & figures:
There are 2.2 million people drawing a check from the U.S. government, including active duty, National Guard and reserve members of the armed forces.  Paying their salaries is a substantial poriton of military spending, which accounts for up to 59% of federal discretionary spending per year, according to the War Resisters' League.


see attached PDF file, "where your money goes" or go to:

related story, video coverage only
Former Wyoming congressman, Alan Simpson, Wants to Cut Soldiers' He...
--Military retirees with 20-years' seniority, even though they have no combat experience, are getting top-level health care through Tri-Care, costing the federal government $53 billion per year.

featured op/ed
Black Americans: Stop Supporting Obama and His Wars
by William Reed


page 2

file under: self-imposed exile in Canada
U.S. conscientious objector and war resister can reapply to stay in Canada: court

more context:  story from six months ago
Oklahoman Joshua Key is using Wikileaks to bolster his case as a Conscientious Objector and War Resister
--Mr. Assange of Wikileaks told Al Jazeera television the documents had provided enough material for 40 wrongful killing lawsuits.
--Key has been in self-imposed exile in Canada for years

Families Fight the U.S. Veterans' Administration over Control of Benefits
--Instead of helping, trustee program is hurting veterans, families say

update on U.S. soldiers committing war crimes in Afghanistan
American ‘death squad’ killings in Afghanistan fail to get media attention
2 wars, 2 scandals, 2 presidents add up to uneven coverage

quote:

"War crimes occur in almost every prolonged armed conflict, as evidenced recently by the photos taken by an American "kill team" in Afghanistan, which shocked the public when the images were published two weeks ago. Everything depends on whether these crimes are also seen as crimes by the military leadership and if the perpetrators are then punished accordingly."
~Jan Fleischhauer, on rape, murder and genocide in times of war
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,755385-4,00.html

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

No discharge for Navy officer found asleep in bed with another male sailor
--A Navy petty officer who faced discharge after he fell asleep in the same bed as another male sailor has gotten a reprieve, his attorneys said

from the archives:
The one veteran from the USA exposed to radiation in its nuclear bomb program to have ever received compensation: Orvile Kelly
file under: Risk of death or disease from U.S. military radioactive operations

backpage

file under: reduction in force, demobilization
Dutch government cutting 12,000 military jobs
--more than one in six of all armed forces personnel RIF'd, as part of spending cuts aimed at balancing the budget by 2015

British Ministry of Defense (MoD) tried to stop Dead Men Risen book ‘to prevent ally withdrawing from Afghanistan’
--The Ministry of Defence and Britain’s two top generals sought to stop the publication of a controversial new book about Afghanistan because of concerns that it might prompt a Nato ally to pull out of Helmand.

sidebar:
British Ex-soldier jailed for burning Koran in Carlisle (U.K.)
--sentenced to 70 days in prison for setting fire to a copy of Muslim holy book

upcoming regular event in Tulsa:

Tulsa Peace Fellowship

presents a pro-peace recruitment drive

"always on the first Saturday of the month"

Saturday, May 7th 2011

corner of 41st & Yale, in Tulsa

12:00 noon to 2:00 PM

 

Come brandish clear "Honk for Peace" signs.  Come help fly the TPF banner/logo.

Please contact Bryan Cheek, a member of the TPF Steering Committee,
on his cellphone: 918-407-3493

 

Other upcoming events:

 

June 4th welcome rally for Bradley Manning, at Ft Leavenworth, Kansas

 

The nation's leading prisoner of conscience and victim of U.S. military torture in prison has been moved from Quantico Virgina Marines base to a Kansas military prison, or "an Army Pre-Trial Facility."  There are reports that the 9-month long regime of solitary confinement has also ended with his transfer out of the U.S. Marines brig.

 

This event is being organized using facebook, by event sponsors in Kansas and Missouri.  You can join the discussion and logistics planning here:  http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_204011756297337&ap=1

 

TPF comment: The event on 4th June is not officially endorsed by the TPF Steering Committee, at the present time.  Event details are FYI only.  Join us on May 12th for our regular monthly business meeting, if you have an opinion about the support efforts for Bradley Manning.

 

Ft. Leavenworth mailing address for Bradley Manning:

Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027

 

UPCOMING MOVIE at CIRCLE CINEMA, TULSA
		6/3-PHIL OCHS: THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE

epitaph for this edition of "Truth in Recruiting"
Words of wisdom from Howard Zinn
(see bottom of this update/digest)

---

The Tulsa Peace Fellowship's Counter-Recruitment Update/Digest, for May 2011
lead story

Predator Drone Mistakenly Kills 2 U.S. Soldiers
Two U.S. service members were killed last week in a drone airstrike that is believed to be the first instance of friendly-fire deaths from drone attacks, NBC News is reporting.
by Cara Parks
www.huffingtonpost.com
Apr 11, 2011

The attack, which took place in Afghanistan's restive Helmand province, appears to be a case of mistaken identity. Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremy Smith and Navy Corpsman Benjamin Rast were reportedly coming to serve as reinforcements for a group of Marines coming under fire in the region. The Marines were watching live video of the battlefield provided by a drone; when they saw infrared "hotspots" approaching, they ordered the drone strike. The hotspots were actually Smith, 26, and Rast, 23, according to NBC.

The U.S. government is investigating the incident, and "the families of both service members have been informed of the possibility this was a friendly fire incident," reports NBC.

The controversy surrounding U.S. drone strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan was highlighted last month when a particularly deadly drone strike killed 36 people, most of them civilians, according to intelligence officials. Pakistan pulled out of high level talks about the future of Afghanistan in protest.

President Obama has ordered a "record number" of Predator strikes during his administration, reports Newsweek.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/11/predator-drone-us-soldiers...

related story:
37 people who protest at Hancock Air Base near Syracuse against the use of drones are arrested Friday
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2011-04-23 17:31

    Nonviolent Resistance

DeWitt, NY -- Dozens of war protesters were arrested Friday afternoon outside the main entrance of the New York Air National Guard’s base at Hancock Field.

Thirty seven protesters, draped with red-spattered sheets, had lain themselves in the main entrance roads to the base, off East Molloy Road.

They were arrested by Onondaga County Sheriff’s deputies on charges of trespassing and obstruction of justice.

They were handcuffed and, after a 45-minute wait, were led to a jail transport bus that was supposed to take them to the Onondaga County Justice Center for processing. Two were in wheel chairs.

The arrests followed a rally outside the air base where more than 150 people had gathered to protest the MQ-9 Reaper drones, and U.S. military involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

Friday’s rally culminated a week of walks, talks and dinners that brought people from around New York State and the U.S., organized by the Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars.

“Our real goal is to end the war,” said Kathy Kelly, a peace activist from Chicago.

Speaker after speaker said the drones represent a new stage of dehumanizing war, kill and maim many civilians. “They terrorize people we don’t want to terrorize,” said Elliott Adams, a Veterans for Peace member from Sharon Springs, NY.

The 174th Fighter Wing of the New York Air National Guard has been remotely flying MQ-9 Reaper drones over Afghanistan, from Syracuse, since late 2009. The unmanned surveillance aircraft is armed with Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs.

The 174th is the first Air National Guard unit to fly MQ-9s, and the first Air Force-affiliated unit east of the Mississippi to fly them.

http://warisacrime.org/content/37-people-who-protest-hancock-air-ba...

---

The Tulsa Peace Fellowship's Counter-Recruitment Update/Digest, for May 2011
more page 1 stories



Navy officer shot dead aboard nuclear submarine HMS Astute
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent for The Telegraph (UK)
08 Apr 2011

Police arrest a man on suspicion of murder after two people are shot aboard berthed nuclear submarine HMS Astute in Southampton's eastern docks.
Submarines especially vulnerable to tensions between crew

The incident happened this afternoon during a changeover of armed guards at the pier where the £1 billion nuclear submarine Astute was berthed in Southampton.

It is understood that the submariner pulled out his 9mm pistol and shot the officer and fellow sailor who had come to change the guard. The officer was killed outright and the rating suffered severe wounds that are said to be critical but not life-threatening.

The sailor was disarmed and has been detained by Hampshire police. Sources suggest that he will be charged with murder.

“It happened earlier today when they had the weapons changeover for the sailors who are guarding Astute,” a source said.

“It appears this rating got into an argument then just went crazy and began shooting people. He has not served in Afghanistan so it doesn’t appear to be related to combat stress like PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).”

HMS Astute previously hit the headlines when it ran aground on a shingle bank between the Scottish mainland and the Isle of Skye and remained marooned for several hours.  Her first captain Commander Andy Coles was relieved of command after the boat ran aground on mud off the Isle of Skye last October.

He was replaced by Cdr Iain Breckridge who was in command of the submarine Tireless when an oxygen generator exploded killing two crew while she was submerged under the polar icecap in 2007. He received an OBE in recognition of his leadership skills in bringing the crew to safety to the surface through the ice while the boat filled with noxious fumes.

The submarine was at 38/9 berth, with a 50 metre exclusion zone being patrolled by MoD police officers at all times.

During its stay HMS Astute was hosting several visits from sea scouts and local school and college pupils from the throughout the city and New Forest.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8438058/Officer-shot-d...


featured radio interview:
Is the U.S. Using Depleted Uranium in Libya?

Doug Weir on the likelihood and the danger
interview by Scott Horton, April 03, 2011, for antiwar.com radio

Dour Weir of the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium discusses the likelihood that depleted uranium weapons are being used in Libya; the DU rounds commonly used by A-10 and Harrier jets against armored targets; the long lasting health risks from dust and chemical toxicity; and why the military seems to be slowly shifting away from DU weapons.

MP3 here. (19:04)

Doug Weir is a Development Worker for the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium and the International Coordinator for the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW). He holds a degree in Geology and a post-graduate degree in Journalism.

further reading: http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/

excerpt from rush transcript:

Weir:  "It's a sort of natural human response for people who have never heard about it before to be aghast that this is being used in weapons. And of course there's also a deep human response to radioactivity. ...   There is kind of a groundswell [against D.U.].  We've had repeated U.N resolutions calling on the U.S. to identify the locations where they fired these weapons in Iraq.  This is a huge part of doing meaningful research on the ground, and to decontaminate the area.  The U.S. hasn't told anybody where they fired these weapons, some 400 tons (that's European tons, so 400,000 kilos) of D.U. in Iraq, over the two conflicts. If this were land mines or cluster munitions, people would be up in arms, but somehow the U.S. has gotten away with not telling us where these weapons were used - despite the fact that we've got all sorts of august scientific bodies saying that one of the first things to do is identify these locations, warn the local people, and in areas where there has been high contamination, spend a lot of money and decontaminate these sites."

TPF correction:  The host mistakenly refers to "uranium-tipped" weapons a couple of times at the beginning of the 20-minute interview.   In fact, uranium is the core of these ammunition rounds, which are encased in other metals to try to contain the uranium's alpha-particle radiation, as well as beta- and gamma-radiation, while the rounds are being stored, handled, loaded, transported, etc.  Some gamma, beta and alpha radiation is emitted by decaying uranium molecules at all times, and therefore, uranium weapons always pose a threat to anyone in the vicinity.  After it has been fired, a round of uranium weapons poses an even greater threat to human health, because of the poison dust leading to alpha-particles that can lodge in the lungs, causing cancer, or rapid-growth tumors, birth defects, etc.



featured editorial:
Hiroshima to Fukushima: The Illusion of Control
by Joe Cirincione
President, Ploughshares Fund
Posted: March 25, 2011

Hiroshima and Fukushima, of course, are very different in fundamental ways. Hiroshima was an intentional bombing that happened in a blink, killing or injuring 135,000 people and destroying 70,000 buildings. Fukushima is the result of unprecedented natural disasters overwhelming safety systems with its consequences for the civilian population metered out over days, weeks or years.

But the connections between the two are just as fundamental. Both involve our collective deception that we can always control the nuclear machines we invented. We cannot. There have been dozens of close calls, false alerts and near launches in the nuclear age. In one instance, a US bomber crash dropped two hydrogen bombs over North Carolina. Five out of six of the bomb's arming devices activated -- only the sixth prevented an actual nuclear detonation.

August 29, 2007 provides a more recent reminder. On that day the U.S. Air Force lost track of the equivalent of 60 Hiroshima bombs for 36 hours. A B-52 bomber flew across the country with six nuclear missiles tucked under its wings. Unknown to the air crews, the missiles were each armed with a 150-kiloton nuclear warhead, ten times the power of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The crew thought they had loaded conventional, non-nuclear missiles. The worst news? No one noticed they were missing. If anyone had asked 20 top experts before this event if anything like this was possible, they all would have said absolutely not.

As for nuclear bombs, there is a strong and growing global consensus that their time has passed, that their risks greatly outweigh their benefits. International security leaders increasingly say that we must move quickly and steadily to eliminate them.

for the full article, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-cirincione/hiroshima-to-fukushima...


Afghanistan ‘death squad’ killings fail to get media, political attention
2 wars, 2 scandals, 2 presidents add up to uneven coverage

By Rowan Scarborough
The Washington Times  (not to be confused with the Washington Post)
April 17, 2011

Reports of a U.S. “death squad” in Afghanistan, complete with the publication of gory photographs, have failed to attract the intense political or media attention afforded a previous war scandal — the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

In 2004, CBS News broadcast an array of photographs showing American jail guards abusing Iraqi detainees. The most famous: a forced pyramid of naked, humiliated prisoners. The depictions touched off an avalanche of media coverage. In Congress, liberals called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Democrats launched inquiries and held a string of well-covered hearings.

In recent months, another wartime embarrassment has emerged. The Army charged five soldiers with murder in the deaths of Afghan civilians in what amounted to a “death squad.”

The German magazine Der Spiegel published several digital photos of soldiers posing with the dead last month.

Even someone at Time Magazine is struck by the lack of “death squad” coverage overall [in the U.S. mainstream media].

Jim Frederick, who covered the Iraq War and is now the managing editor of Time.com and the magazine’s executive editor, wrote in a March 29 blog that the Afghan story was remarkable for two reasons, the first of which is the depravity of the crimes.  “The second reason this tale has been remarkable: It has garnered little attention from the media or the public, even though the allegations started leaking last May and Spc. Jeremy Morlock, one of the five soldiers accused of murder, pled guilty last week and was sentenced to 24 years in prison in exchange for his cooperation in the trials yet to come,” Mr. Frederick wrote.

Yet the Afghan death squad incident has barely touched Washington’s consciousness.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/17/afghanistan-death-s...

featured music video

One (Metallica song)

"One"
Single by Metallica
from the album ...And Justice for All
B-side	The Prince
Released	January 1989
Format	CD single
Recorded	January-May, 1988
Genre	Heavy metal, thrash metal
Length	7:24
Label	Elektra
Writer(s)	James Hetfield / Lars Ulrich
Producer	Metallica, Flemming Rasmussen

According to Wikipedia: "One" is a song by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released as the fourth and final single from their fourth album ...And Justice for All. "One" was also the band's first Top 40 hit single, reaching number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is one of the band's most popular songs and has remained a permanent live staple since the release of the album, making this the most played song from the album ...And Justice for All.  Despite being a big hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and the music video receiving heavy airplay on MTV, the song itself received very little to no radio airplay.

The song's theme and lyrics are based on Dalton Trumbo's 1939 novel Johnny Got His Gun, telling the tale of a soldier whose body is severely damaged by a mortar shell. His arms, legs, eyes, mouth, nose and ears are gone and he is unable to see, speak, smell, or hear. His mind functions perfectly, however, leaving him trapped inside his own body. Trumbo directed the movie adaptation in 1971, from which the footage for the "One" music video is taken.

Dalton Trumbo (December 9, 1905 – September 10, 1976) was an American screenwriter and novelist, and one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of film professionals who refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry. Trumbo won two Academy Awards while blacklisted; one originally given to a front writer, and one awarded to Robert Rich, Trumbo's pseudonym.

Trumbo's 1939 anti-war novel, Johnny Got His Gun, won a National Book Award (then known as an American Book Sellers Award) that year. The novel was inspired by an article Trumbo had read about a Canadian soldier who had lost all his limbs in World War I and was visited in hospital by the Prince of Wales.

In 1971, Trumbo directed the film adaptation of his novel Johnny Got His Gun, which starred Timothy Bottoms, Diane Varsi and Jason Robards.

In 1982, Johnny Got His Gun was adapted into a stage play by Bradley Rand Smith, which has since been performed all over the world. Its first, Off-Broadway run starred Jeff Daniels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_%28Metallica_song%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Trumbo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067277/

from the archives:

Soldiers and Civilians Killed by an Invisible Substance
excerpt from an essay on radiation protection standards by Dr. Rosalie Bertell, published in 1985

Only one veteran from the USA exposed to radiation in its nuclear bomb programme has ever received compensation: Orvile Kelly. One of the first veterans to bring suit for in-service irradiation, Orville Kelly, participated in 22 atomic bomb tests. About six months before he died the Veterans Administration admitted that his illness could be attributed to radiation exposure. About 1,000 veteran claims have been refused. Compensation for damage [from U.S. bomb tests] is almost impossible to obtain.

An atomic veteran who participated in the nuclear tests which were conducted by the USA in the Bikini atoll in the late 1940s reported that he gained 75 lbs in the four years following his participation. The doctor diagnosed his problem as hypothyroidism. He also suffered from high blood pressure, chronic asthma and frequent bouts of bronchitis and pneumonia. He has had six tumours diagnosed since 1949, when he returned home from military service. Four have been surgically removed.

Prior to the above-ground nuclear weapon test ban in 1963, the USA set off at least 183 atmospheric nuclear tests, more than all the other nations of the world combined. About half these tests were set off near the Pacific Trust Territory of Micronesia, given into US protection by the United Nations after the Second World War, and the other half were set off on the 1,350 square miles at the Nevada Test Site north of Las Vegas. By 1978 the USA had set off an additional 400 nuclear bombs below ground in Nevada, some of which were officially admitted to have `leaked' large amounts of radioactive chemicals. Some of the tests were of UK weapons since it also uses the Nevada test site. Underground tests are still taking place in the USA,[36] the USSR and French Polynesia. In the Northern Hemisphere, above-ground tests have also been detonated by the USSR, China and India and in the Southern Hemisphere by France and South Africa.
        The Nevada nuclear tests have spread radiation poisons throughout central and eastern United States and Canada, and produced in the stratosphere a layer of radioactive material which encircles the globe. They also cause nitric oxides to form in the atmosphere which then descend on earth as acid rain. Radioactive chemicals can now be found in the organs, tissues and bones of every individual in the Northern Hemisphere

source online: "The Problem: Nuclear Radiation and its Biological Effects" Part I of
No Immediate Danger, Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth, by Dr Rosalie Bertell
The Book Publishing Company -- Summertown, Tennessee, 1985
ISBN 0-913990-25-2
pages 15-63.

available online:

http://www.ratical.org/radiation/NRBE/NRadBioEffects.html

Further detail on Orville Kelly and the veterans' organization he founded, the National Association of Atomic Veterans (NAAV), to help those sickened by exposure to radiation from U.S. nuclear  bomb testing, see Atomic Veterans' Newsletter, September-October 1979, pp. 6-7:

In 1979 the National Association of Atomic Veterans was founded by former Army sergeant Orville Kelly, and his wife, Wanda. Kelly had witnessed twenty-two nuclear weapons test explosions while serving as commander of Japtan, a small land mass in the Marshall Islands, two decades earlier.

Kelly's experiences were fairly typical. As described in an NAAV newsletter he "wore a film badge, which measured gamma radiation, from April 1, 1958 to August 31, 1958. During that time, the badge recorded an exposure of 3.445 rems. At no time was he measured for beta radiation or for possible internal deposition of radionuclides. The equipment used on the island for environmental monitoring also only measured gamma radiation."

Formation of NAAV in August 1979 brought a strong response from atomic veterans and widows all over the country. Within a year three thousand had become members of the association, operating out of headquarters in Burlington, Iowa, the hometown of Orville and Wanda Kelly. Together with nuclear veterans and supporters in every state, they set about challenging the Veterans Administration's treatment of former servicemen exposed to radiation while in the military.

Diagnosed as suffering from lymphocytic lymphoma in June 1973, Orville Kelly's claims for service-connected benefits were repeatedly rejected by the VA. Hobbled by the pain of his cancer and powerful chemotherapy drugs, Kelly traveled as much as he could, meeting with atomic veterans and speaking out on their behalfs. In the process Kelly's own often-rebuffed claim became a cause celebre, and a severe embarrassment to the VA and Defense Department.

In November 1979, after five years of denials, the VA's Board of Veterans Appeals granted Kelly's claim. The decision conceded the plausibility of a link between in-service radiation exposure and later cancer, but stopped short of acknowledging a definite connection. The VA made clear that the Kelly decision would not serve as a precedent for other such claims, which would still be processed case-by-case.

Kelly was well aware that only a handful of atomic vets had been successful in gaining compensation. In April 1980, two months before he died, Orville Kelly said from his sickbed: "Although our claims are difficult to prove because we cannot feel, taste, hear or smell radiation, it is more deadly than bullets or shrapnel."

Articulating the sentiments of thousands who had joined the National Association of Atomic Veterans, Kelly added: "I believe I should have been warned about the possible dangers of radiation exposure and that medical examinations should have been conducted on a regular basis after my exposure. The truth is that I was never warned nor were examinations ever performed. During all the years after I left the Army, I was never once told to get a physical because I participated in nuclear weapons testing. Even though I won my case, I have still lost the overall battle because doctors have told me I have but a short time to live."

http://www.ratical.com/radiation/KillingOurOwn/KOO2.html.

For ongoing information on atomic veterans contact:

R. J. Ritter – NAAV board member (2010-2014)
Houston, Tx.  - 281-481-1357
http://naav.com/
e-mail:  [e-mail]

or,

Bernie Clark  - NAAV board member (2010-2011)
Secretary & Treasurer
Tulsa, Ok.  -  918-749-2034
e-mail [e-mail]

EASTERN OKLAHOMA ATOMIC VETERANS ASSOCIATION MUSKOGEE OK, U.S.A
Send an email to Bernard E. Clark for information: [e-mail]

Also see:

"Denial of Atomic Veterans' Tort Claims: The Enduring Fallout From Feres v. United States"
by J. Thomas Morina
in William and Mary Law Review
Volume 24 | Issue 2 Article 4, 1983

available online: http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2239
or:  http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol24/iss2/4

epitaph, for this edition of "Truth in Recruiting"

"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That's our problem."
~Howard Zinn

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The Tulsa Peace Fellowship's Counter-Recruitment Update/Digest, for May 2011
masthead

who we are:

The Tulsa Peace Fellowship is the activist wing of the peace movement in Eastern Oklahoma.  TPF offers citizens and community groups tools and resources to participate personally in our democracy, to help shape federal budget and policy priorities, and to promote peace, social and economic justice, and human rights.   TPF is a registered non-profit organization and a non-partisan civic-sector organization, loosely affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration, north side of Tulsa.

"Waging Peace One Person at a Time".

Through its counter-recruitment task force, TPF is a member of the National Network in Opposition to the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY) representing some 188 counter-recruitment groups in cities and towns across the country. On the web: http://www.nnomy.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=v... 

Tulsa Peace Fellowship is open to members of third parties, progressives, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Green Party members, etc.  If you have not already done so, please join the new social networking tool for TPF on Ning, in lieu of TPFtalks on yahoogroups, which has fallen into disuse  Thank you!  You can check out our new tool here: https://tulsapeacefellowship.ning.com/ (new for 2011)  Also still going strong:  our announcement list on yahoo!  [e-mail] (since 2002)  Go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/ and search for "tulsapeace"

If you enjoyed this news digest and/or found this update useful, please consider making a donation of time, money, or effort to the Tulsa Peace Fellowship.  

TPF needs your support.

You can donate online via PINC (pull down menu for US$ donations)
http://www.pincgiving.com/donate/organization/1202854

Or, please mail a check or money order made out to the"Tulsa Peace Fellowship" to :

The Tulsa Peace Fellowship
c/o UU Church of the Restoration,
1314 N. Greenwood Ave, Tulsa Oklahoma. 74106-4854
Find on a map: Google Maps link

Contributions to TPF are not tax deductible at the present time. Details on tax status available.

The next monthly anti-war demo in Tulsa is scheduled for
Saturday May 7th, 2011, 12noon to 2pm, with the theme: "U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now!"
Details online: https://tulsapeacefellowship.ning.com/events/out-of-afghanistan-1

The next regularly scheduled business meeting of the Fellowship will be held five days after the demonstration
 on Thursday, May 12th 2011, 6:15 PM – 7:30 PM @ the UU Church of the Restoration, in Tulsa, just north of downtown

Come join us!   Especially parents, guardians, and students in the Tulsa Public Schools system who are interested in countering the presence of military recruiters on school grounds.

An archive of TPF counter-recruitment updates and other related TPF material is available to members online:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tulsapeace/
You must sign in to yahoo! groups to see the archived "message history"
TPF messages have been archived online since 2002
TPF was founded some 30 years ago.
Current membership online: 692 subscribers

The information provided in this digest/update herein is for non-profit use only, according to "fair use" doctrine.  Copyright and all commercial exploitation rights remain with the various authors/publishers cited above. The Tulsa Peace Fellowship does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in the articles appearing herein.

further information

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Strength Through Peace:  Out of Iraq & Afghanistan
Accountability:  Indict & Imprison Bush & Cheney for War Crimes
JROTC: Out of Our Schools
Schools as Military-Free Zones
Alternatives to War:  Department of Peace & cabinet-level Secretary of Peace

THE 10 REASONS

Ten excellent reasons not to join the military:
a.. You May Be Killed, Even By Mistake
b.. You May Kill Others Who Do Not Deserve to Die
c.. You May Be Injured
d.. You May Not Receive Proper Medical Care
e.. You May Suffer Long-term Health Problems
f.. You May Be Lied To
g.. You May Face Discrimination
h.. You May Be Asked to Do Things Against Your Beliefs
i.. You May Find It Difficult to Leave the Military
j.. You Have Other Choices, including the Choice to Learn a Marketable Skill

for more info:
http://www.10reasonsbook.com/medcare.htm